1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to configuring software for users, and in particular, it relates to a method and system of configuring software without recompiling or customizing it for every user.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most software requires some type of configuration by the user which requires the user to provide certain information, such as specifying an install directory, a license code, a user name, or which components to install. Existing solutions are costly to deploy and/or error prone for the user, often causing user frustration and increased technical support costs.
There are two classes of commonly used conventional configuration schemes. In the first conventional scheme, the user manually configures the software. This is usually done during the installation process. The user is expected to set the installation directory, provide the user name, and in some instances choose which software modules to install. Users often do not understand these configuration options, and manually entering them is confusing and error prone. In the second conventional scheme, the configuration options are compiled into the software. There are several variants of this approach and many of them are patented Canada patents 2287013 and 2335298, especially for anti-piracy applications. Custom compiling, or preconfiguring a software build for a specific user, dramatically increases software distribution cost and complexity.